1973 Plymouth Duster - Summer Vacation

It's the summer of 2000, and John Wallauer, a school teacher from St. Cloud, Florida, is on his annual summer vacation. Now school may be out for the summer, but while planning for the upcoming school year, John raced his green '73 Duster in the Super Pro ranks at Orlando Speedway, but needed more. In fact, he decided he needed a car that could be driven and enjoyed for more than a quarter of a mile at a time. The blue '73 Duster seen here was the culmination of retrieving and refining that desire.

The retrieving part was first, which consisted of hooking the trailer to his pick-em-up and convincing friend Curt Graulich to tag along for the ride. That "ride" started and ended in St. Cloud by way of Michigan to get the Plymouth, beginning on a Friday morning at six o'clock and ending on the same weekend on Sunday afternoon. Now that's a dream drive!

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The car was nice enough that John could drive and enjoy it while tinkering on it. Of course, in true gearhead fashion, he decided the car looked OK, but it still needed to be personalized, and the engine didn't run as well as he liked. So over the next few weeks, the car was completely disassembled. That lasted until school started again (remember those years?), so it sat idle until Thanksgiving, when John went flat-out to get it done, completing it and driving it for the first time again on December 19.

What had taken all that time? First, the engine was yanked out and the engine bay detailed. All the holes were welded shut, after which friend Rick Perry smoothed the welds and applied a fresh coat of Petty Blue, giving the car an incredibly sano engine compartment. All of the wiring was moved under the dash and only a few necessary wires enter the engine bay. New stainless brake lines were plumbed from the manual master cylinder to all four corners and a new Firm Feel power steering box was added, while the battery was relocated to the trunk.

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The stock 340 engine, which was rebuilt by the previous owner, was repainted and a new Six-Pack setup ordered from Koller Dodge was installed for top-end savvy. Exhausting the spent gases is a set of Jet-Hot-coated DynoMax headers bolted to a 2 1/2-inch exhaust system using Flowmaster mufflers. The transmission was sent to J.W. Transmissions in Rockledge, Florida, and now sports a full manual shift with a transbrake.

From the beginning, John knew how he wanted to set up the back half of the car. To this end, he removed all of the unnecessary floor metal and braced the body so it wouldn't distort without the support of the sheetmetal (remember, the car was already painted). John then built custom framerails out of .120-inch-thick steel box tubing and welded them down the entire length of the floor; voila! a full-framed Duster! Next, he fabbed his own wheel tubs for the Mickey Thompson 15x29.5 tires mounted to Weld "Pro-Star" wheels, using a 3.91 Sure Grip-equipped 8 3/4-inch rear that's narrowed 10 inches for support.

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Rounding it out, the interior remains basically stock, with the addition of lightweight drag seats featuring four-point harnesses, a B&M shifter, and Autometer gauges. The result is a head-turner at cruises and shows throughout the Sunshine State, and John still gets in his share of street time when the other Duster isn't on the track. Remember going to school and your teacher asking you to write an essay on how you spent your summer vacation? Well, John's "metal shop" Duster gets an A+ in our book.